Full Moon: Quil's Story
by VixL
Summary: Mom's always at work at the Nursing Home. Grandpa spends all of his time now at Tribal meetings. My two best friends won't speak to me. Fuck. I really am alone. *Twilight Fan fiction. Takes place in New Moon.
1. Chapter 1

**Summary:** All Quil Ateara V cares about is spending time with his mom, grandpa, and two best friends, but when all the people around him start to leave, he's left to wonder who he really is.

 _On the reservation there isn't really much to do._

 _So, I usually end up listening to my music really loud or exercising._

 _Like this morning when I reach over to turn my sound system up in my room as I get out of bed. After that I just roll over and drop to the floor to start doing my daily pushups._

 _Fifty._

 _That's my goal._

 _Today isn't a chill day for me._

 _No._

 _Actually it is the first day back to school since winter break._

 _I stayed in bed really late for the past 19 days that I had off. I usually didn't wake up until noon._

 _So, this morning it was kind of a struggle to rise at 5:30 AM._

 _My mom had to break down the door and shake me really hard. Although, even then I still wouldn't budge._

 _So, she did the ultimatum._

 _"Quil Ateara the Fifth!"_

 _When she says my full name, I know I'll be in trouble if I don't listen to whatever she's trying to tell me._

 _After I heard her yell that...well..._

 _I made sure to get my ass up._

 **Author's Note:** 1/1/2019 This is a EXTREME work in progress. I'm going to make mistakes, I'm sure. But the goal of this is to just write the story. Then I'll worry about editing and continuity hopefully in a later rewrite. Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

_I walk to school. My house is so close. On the way my cousin, Jacob Black, meets me._

 _"Hey," I say as I reach up and pat his head._

 _He's half a foot taller than me._

 _I hate it._

 _"What's up," He says._

 _He looks half asleep._

 _Same as me._

 _"You do that project that we were supposed to do over the break?" I ask him as we continue to walk._

 _"No," He says,"I know you didn't either"_

 _I laugh._

 _As we get closer to the school we see our friend, Embry Call, waiting outside with a few other students._

 _I pretend to sock him in the stomach as a way of a greeting._

 _He's taller than me, too._

 _The only thing I have going for me is that I'm more muscular than them._

 _Also, my hair is cut short._

 _Jacob wears his hair long._

 _Embry kind of settles somewhere in between long hair and short hair._

 _A few people from our class call out to us._

 _We've hung out with most of them all break._

 _So, it's not anything special to see them again._

 _The rez is so small._

 _Most of us are too poor to go anywhere over the Holidays._

 _The closest we get to a change of scenery is the Makah reservation then maybe the town of Forks if we're lucky._

 _A trip to Seattle is considered fancy._

 _We usually spend winter break at First Beach._

 _Walking the shore, having bonfires, and freezing our asses off in the rain and snow just like most days in this cloudy state of Washington._

 _A girl I fooled around with, Michelle Begay, is standing with the group of people who called to us._

 _She and I had sort of a falling out with when she saw me flirting with her cousin over break._

 _When I look her way, she gives me the middle finger._

 _"Let's not go over there," I tell Jacob and Embry._

 _The group of our classmates are made up of three of Michelle's family members. Two of which are a bit bulkier than me._

 _Jacob grins at me._

 _"What? You afraid of getting your ass kicked?" He teases me._

 _But he's **my** family._

 _I know if anything went down he'd have my back._

 _"Hardly," I say._

 _But I'm bluffing._

 _I might look tough and I do a lot of pushups._

 _But that's only because I'm making up for the fact that I'm actually a really big softie._

 _I don't think I could even kill a spider._

 _Jacob is a lot tougher than me._

 _I kind of lean on him a lot._

 _I look up to him even._

 _I'm not just saying that because I'm short, either._

 _We've been raised together since we were kids._

 _Ever since then we've been connected at the hip._

 _"Ok, we'll go inside then," Jacob says once he sees my expression._

 _He knows me._

 _He knows when I'm afraid._

 _We just wave at the group of kids and head into the Quileute Tribal School._

 _All three of us have been going here since we were kids._

 _Everyone does._

 _I've grown up with half the people on that make up the school._

 _But out of all of them only my second cousin and Embry are who I'd call my true friends._

 _Embry's kind of quiet guy._

 _Shy, too._

 _His mom was originally from the Makah rez._

 _So, over break he spent some time with family down there._

 _A lot of times he doesn't say much._

 _Which got him picked on by some of the other kids when we were growing up._

 _But ever since he's started hanging out with Jacob and me more, that's all stopped._

 _Like I said, the muscles I built are sort of like a wall._

 _No one usually wants to mess with me._

 _But when they see me, Jacob, _and_ Embry together..._

 _Then they definitely don't want to mess with us._

 _We're sort of like our own band of brothers._

 _Our own posse._

 _Our own pack of wolves._

 _Or something like that._

 **Author's Note: 1/2/2019 Thanks for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

_Our school is so small that we have a tiny building then trailers out in the back. Prek to sixth grade all have their own teacher. Meanwhile the 7th through 12th graders all have to share teachers. So, usually the teacher will rotate between trailers. The English teacher is responsible for teaching 7th grade, 8th grade, 9th grade, 10th grade, 11th grade, and 12th grade English. The same goes for the Math, Science, Social Studies teacher, etc._

 _Jacob, Embry, and I cut through the main building to get to the 10th grade trailer._

 _As we're walking back outside towards the trailer, we see three guys with their arms crossed sitting waiting for us._

 _"Shit," I whisper to myself as I recognize that it's the same guys that I wanted to avoid when we were out in the front of the school._

 _"Ateara!" One of them yells at me._

 _He's a year older than us. He also happens to be Michelle's cousin. His name is Paul Lahote._

 _"Here we go," Embry says under his breath as the three guys close the space that separates us from them._

 _Jacob is the one that steps forward as Paul does. I watch as my cousin, who is just about his height, glares back at him._

 _I'm thankful because honestly I'm sweating bullets right now._

 _"What do you want, Paul?" Jacob asks._

 _Paul turns his glare back at me. He looks like he's ready to hit me._

 _"I want to kick his ass, Black. Now get out of the way before I beat yours, too," He snaps at Jacob._

 _Oh shit._

 _He's serious, too. I know because he lunges for me. But before he can hit me both Jacob and Embry step in the way to shove him back._

 _Which just enrages Paul further._

 _What did I deserve to get such good friends?_

 _Paul's friends in particular, however don't seem as willing to fight as he is. They sort of seem to be letting him do all of it for himself as they just stand guard._

 _"Get out of my way, Black!" Paul shouts as he shakes out of their grasp. Both Jacob and Embry have a good hold of his fists which seem to be trying their best to connect with my face._

 _"You, too you Makah piece of trash!" He quips at Embry._

 _But my friends don't back down._

 _By now the rest of the group who'd been out front has made their way to the back and are circling around the fight._

 _However, that also means that the other trailers students that are inside can hear what is going on._

 _Which is the saving grace, because that means the teachers inside also can hear._

 _A few of them step out of their trailers and rush over to break up the fight._

 _"Paul Lahote!" Mrs. Aiken is a fourth grade teacher who knows all of us because she's been here forever._

 _Which means that she automatically knows which one of us is the trouble maker._

 _"Come with me!" She tells him and then says to the rest of us who have gathered,"Everyone else get to your trailers!"_

 _Paul gives me another glare._

 _"Watch your back Ateara!" He threatens as he's being led away._

 _I can see his cousin, Michelle, smiling as she hears it. She looks at me and smirks._

 _As the crowd disperses I look at my own cousin and my best friend._

 _I know as scared as I am to see Paul off school grounds, as long as I have them I'll be ok._

 _But that still doesn't mean I won't be running straight home._

 **Author's Note: 1/3/2019 FantasyWriterHina, thank you for inspiring me! And once again, thank any of you readers for reading!**


	4. Chapter 4

_Embry and I got to know each other more because our mom's both work at the same souvenir shop._

 _If it hadn't been for that I don't think we would have got as close as we did. Like I said, Embry is a quiet guy. He was an even quieter kid._

 _I remember when I used to walk with Jacob to see my mom at the shop, because it's just outside of the exit to the rez, we'd always see Embry walking a little behind us._

 _That's because he was going to go see his mom, too._

 _But he wouldn't call out to us like most kids on the rez would if they see you're going the same way._

 _He wouldn't say,"Hey, wait up! Are you guys headed this way" or anything like that._

 _He was a really shy guy._

 _Even when we'd all get to the shop at the same time, he'd just stare at the ground instead of look at us or say,"Hi"._

 _It was me who ended up being the one to talk to him._

 **Author Note: 1/4/2019 Thanks for reading!**


	5. Chapter 5

_After school Embry and I walk together to go see our moms. Jacob doesn't come with us because he has to head home to check on his dad._

 _We make plans, however, to meet him later._

 _"Come by the shed," He says,"I'm still working on the Rabbit"_

 _My cousin is some sort of mechanic or something. I don't know. He has an unusual talent for taking parts and putting them together._

 _I guess he got good because he's practically an only child since his two older sisters are out of the house._

 _If me and Embry are not around to bother him, he usually has a lot of time left to himself._

 _His dad, my Uncle Billy, is in a wheelchair because of a car accident._

 _Which means that he can't drive the truck and the rabbit that they keep in the shed._

 _So, he let's Jacob fiddle with the engines._

 _Another reason why Jake spends so much time in the shed..._

 _Well,_

 _My mom and I talked about it._

 _But I'd never tell Jake._

 _We think it's because he wants to make sure the rabbit gets fixed._

 _It's sort of sentimental to him._

 _It was the car his mom was in the night of the accident that took her away._

 _I miss my aunt even though I can't really remember that much about her._

 _However, my dad and her were cousins (although I call her my aunt) and grew up together. She and my mom were also really close._

 _So, Mom always talks about her and keeps her memory alive._

 _Jake and I never talk about his mom._

 _Just like we never talk about my dad._

 _My dad also passed away._

 _Embry doesn't talk about his dad, either._

 _He doesn't know if he's alive or dead or who he is really, because his mom didn't have a good relationship with him._

 _I think it's cool that all three of us, however, only have one parent._

 _It sort of bonds us together even more in a way._

 **Author's Note: 1/5/2019 I know this is sloppy as heck. But like I said in the beginning, the whole purpose of this is just to write the story out. This is all VERY rough first draft. I'm just writing what comes to me. I'll fix canon and continuity errors in the rewrite. But first, like I said, I'm getting it all out. Thanks for reading!**


	6. Chapter 6

_When we get to the shop I see my mom working the checkout counter with some customers._

 _It's a family of four. I can tell they are tourists by the way they stare and point at me and Embry._

 _We both look particularly Native. Or rather we kind of match the description shown on TV. We're both kind of darker complected and have black hair._

 _My dad had blue eyes though. My mom always shows me his pictures. I get my coloring from my mom and my dad's father (who I also share a name with)._

 _While my dad took after my grandma._

 _My grandma died before I was ever even thought into existence. But I've always been told that when she and my grandad got together it caused quite a scandal._

 _Mainly because she wasn't Native._

 _Grandpa Quil doesn't really talk about her. She died when my dad was a baby. I think he's still messed up over it._

 _I have seen a picture of her before though. Back when she and my grandad got together in the 50's or something._

 _They looked happy despite going against what their cultures wanted._

 _I wave at my mom and she raises a finger in the air to tell me she'll be with me in a minute._

 _"I'm going to go say hi to my mom," Embry says and I nod my head as I watch him walk to the back of the souvenir shop to go find her._

 _She's probably setting up a display or something._

 _This is hiking season._

 _Once the customer's are done buying their gifts, they continue to give quick looks at me as they leave._

 _I walk up to the checkout line and hop on the counter as my mom finishes closing the register._

 _"Don't do that," She says without even looking up from counting the change._

 _"I'm not doing anything," I say as I swing my legs back and forth._

 _She looks up at me and shakes her head._

 _"How was school?" She asks as she swats at me and shoos me down._

 _I laugh as I dodge her and land back on the floor._

 _"It was good," I lie._

 _I won't tell her that I almost got jumped. My mother would make sure to find Paul Lahote and take care of him herself if she knew what happened today._

 _"What was good about it?" She pesters._

 _Man I hate when she does that. One word answers just don't work with her._

 _"Um, well Jacob's almost done with the rabbit," I say quickly,"So, that's what was good. I got learn the status of the car"_

 _Mom gives me a look but she smiles._

 _"Next time I want to hear how you're doing in class, Quil," She emphasizes._

 _I laugh._

 _"I have to head to school myself," She says as she signs a piece of paper,"Your Grandad will be at the house when you go back. I'll be home before dinner"_

 _I know the drill. My mom is working towards getting her CNA license so that she can start working as a nurse instead of at the shop. She takes classes at Peninsula College when she can._

 _"Ok," I say._

 _She reaches over the counter and gives me a kiss on the forehead._

 _"I'll see you at home, ok?" She says._

 _I look over and see Embry is waiting for me at the door. I get super embarrassed because he probably just saw my mom just treat me like a four year old._

 _"Ok," I tell my mom hurriedly,"I'm heading to Jake's. I'll see you later"_

 _"Love you," Mom calls as I rush away from her._

 _"Quil Ateara!" She snaps again when I don't say anything._

 _Embry watches me._

 _Man, I'm embarrassed as heck._

 _I turn around and look at my mom._

 _"Love you, too Mom," I mutter then try to ignore Embry smiling at me as I push past him out the door._

 **Author's Note: 1/6/2019 Thanks for reading!**


	7. Chapter 7

We _walk the way back towards Jacob's place. When we get to the dirt that leads to his shed, we already see the door open._

 _"Jake!" I call as Embry and I head inside._

 _I see him sitting on a stool with the hood of the rabbit popped up and his tool kit sitting on the tool bench by his side._

 _I whistle once I see the engine._

 _Embry looks over at it with me._

 _"She's coming along," I say._

 _Jake grins._

 _"Yeah she is," He says._

 _Then he sighs._

 _"I just need that master cylinder"_

 _Embry shakes his head._

 _"That costs way too much," He says as he sits down in the open front seat of the rabbit._

 _"I know," Jake huffs._

 _"What happened to the money your dad got for selling the truck?" I say._

 _I keep forgetting, until I walk inside of the shed and no longer see Uncle Billy's rusted red truck that Jake worked so hard on the past two summers, that it is no longer here._

 _I think Uncle Billy sold it to one of his friends or something._

 _It's weird to not see it around anymore. Especially since Jacob and I used to sit in the truck bed sometimes after school when we wanted to just hang out in the shed._

 _"I spent the half he gave me on the other parts to fix the lights and break," Jacob says as he pulls the rubber band from his hair and shakes it out,"I'll probably have to do some extreme chores around the house. But even then he'll only give me like twenty bucks"_

 _I chuckle._

 _"Don't worry," I tell him,"Something will come along"_

 _He shakes his head._

 _"I hope so"_

 **Author's Note: 1/7/2019 Thank you for reading!**


	8. Chapter 8

_I go back home after hanging out with Embry and Jacob._

 _My grandad, who everyone calls "Old Quil", is sitting at the kitchen table with a fish hook in his hand as I enter._

 _He has tons of newspapers spread in front of him because Mom can get pretty anal about Grandpa handling live bait in the area where we eat. Although he always makes a point to reply back that fishing is **how** we **used** to eat._

 _Which usually gets him started on a long tangent on the Quileute's being great whalers, how we've lost our culture, and how this tribe is single handedly going to end if we don't get back to out "roots". So, to prevent discussions like that (which can get Grandpa pretty heated), Mom keeps a bin of old newspapers near the door for anytime he comes over and decides to go back to the "old days" with a rod._

 _The fishing pole leans against one of the cabinets._

 _"Hey, Grandpa," I say as the screen door slams behind me._

 _He looks at me from behind his glasses and smiles._

 _"Hac'h chi'i," He says as he takes a live worm from the Folgers tub on the table and hooks it through with his aged fingers._

 _I'm not exactly sure **how** old my grandpa is, but I'm assuming he's pretty ancient. Mainly because he's one of the few people left in the Tribe who remembers how to speak some of the **old language**. By that I mean Quileute._

 _It's funny that my name is Quil, that I'm Quileute, live on the Quileute reservation, yet I'm probably the least Quileute ever. It's not because I reject the "old ways" (as my grandpa likes to call it), but because we don't really know the old ways anymore._

 _There's no one around to teach us._

 _Even Grandpa with a five year old's level of vocabulary of the Quileute language isn't that versed in our past heritage. By the time he was born the Quileute's were already being told not to speak their native language by their own Tribal Council. The Tribal Council even sent Grandpa Quil's mom and dad away to a boarding school where they were forced to take on different names and adopt a different culture._

 _I guess the Tribal Elders at the time thought they were **helping** their people by trying to erase the "Indian" out of them. But in the end it resulted in the loss of a heritage._

 _The last person in my family who could speak fluent Quileute died years ago._

 _Grandpa Quil only knows what he would hear sometimes when his parents would speak in hushed tones. That's what he tells me._

 _It's funny how now the opposite has happened when it comes to the values of our tribe. That is that the Tribal Council would never do some of the things that they did generations ago. In fact, the Tribal Elders today are all about preserving our heritage or reigniting it._

 _Grandpa Quil is on the Council and he was one of the Elders that voted to implement learning the Quileute language into our school._

 _Because of this he gets **really** disappointed in me when I don't speak the language. Or at least attempt to._

 _It's just it's really hard to say some of the words. Especially since no one is exactly sure how to say them. Which is why most of us on the rez aren't really that pressed about speaking a language that even the adults don't know how to speak._

 _But when I'm with Grandpa Quil I try my best to use a few words here and there._

 _Which makes him happy._

 _"Hac'h chi'i," I repeat as I sit down at the table next to him._

 _I grab a hook and bait a worm myself._

 _When I look up I see Grandpa staring down at me with a smile so big on his old face..._

 _It's like I'm piercing my own heart._

 **Author's Note: 1/8/2019 Thank you for reading!**


	9. Chapter 9

_Grandpa Quil and I head down to the beach after we get our worms hooked. It isn't a far walk._

 _Despite being ancient, Grandpa is still in pretty good shape._

 _When we get to the water, we stand on some nearby rocks and throw the line in._

 _This is something we do almost everyday._

 _Just sit out here and fish together._

 _Sometimes we don't say a word at all._

 _I just sit and watch as Grandpa stands there, holding his fishing pole._

 _His face always looks so stoic._

 _Sometimes I wonder what he's thinking about as he stares at the waves._

 **Author's Note: 1/9/2019 Thank you for reading!**


	10. Chapter 10

_Mom doesn't even have to wake me up the next morning from school. When she knocks on my door, she already finds me on the floor doing my pushups with my music turned up._

 _"Good morning, my obedient son," She practically sings to me as she comes in my room with the biggest smile on her face._

 _I just flash her a grin._

 _"Morning-," I say in between breaths as I do my final set,"Mom"_

 _She shakes her head at me and grabs my laundry basket._

 _"I'm off to work, but I'll stop by the cleaners so you can have some fresh underwear,," She says._

 _"Mom!" I groan as I finish my final pushup._

 _I still get embarrassed when she says stuff like that even though no one else is around but us._

 _"What?" She says,"I know you've been wearing the same dirty clothes all winter break. Don't even try to deny it"_

 _I can't. She's right._

 _"Did you take a shower last night?" She continues to pester._

 _"Yeah, I did, Mom!" I groan._

 _Even though she's asking me all these questions, I can't help but want her to stick around a bit more. In fact, I wish she didn't even have to go to work today and that I didn't have to go to school._

 _It's because I love seeing my mom in the morning since I usually don't get to see her much until dinner. But last night she got home pretty late because she stayed behind at her school to study for her exams._

 _She called Grandpa Quil and let him know._

 _So, Grandpa ended up frying the fish that he caught and even baked us some frybread. It was a **very** old school dinner. Which made me wish that Mom had made it home, but only because I love it when she cooks for me and Grandpa. We usually all have dinner together._

 _I guess that's what I didn't like the most._

 _She never stays late anywhere. Not even at work at the souvenir shop. She told her boss upfront that **I** come first and that she has to be home for me. So, that was the first night in my life that I can remember not having my mom cook for me._

 _But I try to tell myself not to be selfish. Mom's nursing classes are about to be over and soon she'll be right back at home waiting for me when it's evening time with Grandpa Quil like she always is._

 _Everything will go back to normal once she takes this exam._

 _I stand up and go over to give her a hug._

 _She hugs me back._

 _Then looks down at me and rubs my head._

 _"My precious baby boy," She says quietly to herself._

 _In that moment her eyes suddenly start to well up with tears._

 _I never see my mom cry. Even though when I was younger I used to hear her sometimes._

 _I know she's thinking about my dad._

 _It makes me awkward as hell, so I pretend I don't even notice that she's welling up._

 _"Ok, Mom," I say jokingly to break up the sadness in the air that somehow quickly entered,"I've got to get dressed"_

 _She smiles at me and pats my head again._

 _"Yeah you do," She says and I can see the sadness rolling off of her as she turns to leave._

 _Just as I'm closing my door I hear her yell:_

 _"And put on some clean underwear Quil Ateara the Fifth!"_

 _Yep._

 _She's fine._

 _That's a relief. I thought she might end up pulling out the old photo album that she keeps in her room of Dad. There's no way I would ever let my mom cry. I always want to keep her smiling._

 _Which at the end of the day, it's easy to make Mom happy._

 _All I have to do is follow her rules._

 _I open one of my drawers and grab a pair of clean boxers._

 _"Ok! Mom! I've got clean underwear!"_

 _I yell._

 _I know she hears me because I listen to the sound of her laughing outside of my door._

 _XxxxxX_

 _When Mom leaves for work I hesitate to walk to school._

 _I know that Jake will meet me halfway, but I also know that Paul Lahote could possibly make good on his word and hop out of the trees somewhere to beat me up before I can make it to my cousin._

 _My anxiety is high as I lock the door behind me and jump off the porch._

 _I look left and right._

 _Trying to decipher if I see any shadows watching me from the forest that surrounds the little blue shack that me and mom call home._

 _Paul Lahote knows where I live._

 _Everyone knows where everyone lives on the rez._

 _So, if he wanted to he could stalk my house and wait until I'm all alone to get revenge for me breaking the heart of his cousin Michelle._

 _The thought of getting beat up and my paranoia is what makes me sprint like a bat out of hell all the way to the halfway point where I meet Jacob._

 _It turns out my fears were unfounded, because no one jumps out of the woods at me._

 _Instead, Jacob just sees me running like hell towards him and looks at me confused._

 _"What were you doing?" He asks me in alarm as I break my pace once I reach him._

 _I have to catch my breath._

 _Sure, I do a lot of pushups but I'm no athlete._

 _"Is Paul Lahote chasing you?" Jacob asks as he looks from where I usually walk from to see if indeed there is a psycho angry stalker like Paul Lahote trailing behind me._

 _But of course there is no one chasing after me._

 _And I'm too yellow to admit that I was running because I was **scared** Paul Lahote **might** be waiting to chase after me._

 _So I just shake my head as I gasp for air._

 _"No, no," I tell my cousin,"I just decided to get some exercise"_

 _Jacob looks down at me with a shit eating grin on his face._

 _He knows when I'm bullshitting._

 _He throws his arm around me as we begin the rest of our usual walk to school._

 _"Don't worry, cuz" He says,"I'll protect you from the big, scary bully"_

 _I shake off his arm._

 _Man, I hate it when he rubs stuff in._

 _"I don't need you to protect me," I say weakly._

 _He grins._

 _"Sure, sure," He says with a shake of his head. Not buying it._

 _When we get up to the school, though I freeze a little._

 _My eyes are weary as I look for the group of kid that we saw yesterday. But I don't see anybody in the spot where our classmates usually stand._

 _However, Embry is still out in the front waiting for us as usual. But when he walks up to us, his face is bewildered._

 _"Man, Jake. Quil.," He says with a shake of his head,"Something's going on"_

 _"What happened?" I ask as Jake and I look at one another, trying to guess what it is that Embry is talking about._

 _Then he says it:_

 _"Paul Lahote joined Sam Uley's gang"_

 _The first thing I think when I hear those words is..._

 _Oh shit._

 _I really **am** scared for my life now._

 **Author's Note: 1/10/2019 Thanks for reading!**


	11. Chapter 11

_Most of the day in school is spent with everyone whispering about Paul Lahote and the fact that he was spotted hanging around with Sam Uley._

 _Even Michelle, who I was sure would be happy that her cousin is in a gang because it means he could probably now have me killed, was upset._

 _Sam Uley's gang consists of Sam, Jared Cameron who was another one of the students that used to go here, and now Paul Lahote._

 _So, I guess it doesn't seem like much of a "gang". But if someone sees the way they look and the way Sam Uley and Jared Cameron walk around the rez..._

 _They'd be scared of them too._

 _For one thing Sam and Jared always walk around like they own everything. Jared even stopped coming to school when he started hanging out with Sam._

 _Sam is some years older than all of us. But after his senior year he sort of dropped out and never came back._

 _Then when Jared Cameron started hanging around Sam..._

 _Well, he stopped coming to school and sort of dropped out, too._

 _The crazy thing about all of this is the Tribal Council won't do anything about it._

 _Even after the school went to them and explained what happened and that Sam and Jared both dropped out._

 _Usually things like this on the rez aren't allowed to slide._

 _The Tribal Council will intervene._

 _But even my granddad won't say anything bad about Sam Uley. Or the fact that he trails around the rez acting all big and tough._

 _Now that Paul is one of his "followers" makes me even more sick to my stomach._

 _Jacob hates Sam as much as I do._

 _Mainly because Sam is always looking at him as if he thinks Jake should be one of his followers, too._

 _"Are you sure?" Some of my classmates whisper during break time as we sit in our class trailer,"Are you sure he was with Sam?"_

 _"Yep," The eyewitness who'd seen Paul tagging along with Sam and Jared, reaffirms her story for the hundredth time today._

 _"He had his hair shaved like them and everything," She explains once again._

 _I shake my head._

 _I'm sitting on the edge of Embry's desk and Jacob is in the desk beside his._

 _"This is all bullshit, man," Jacob mutters under his breath,"Since when are we allowed to drop out of school without the Elders losing their shit?"_

 _I shake my head._

 _"I don't know man," I agree with him,"But even Grandpa Quil just shrugs me off when I mention Sam to him"_

 _Jacob gives me a look._

 _"Yeah, my dad is the same way"_

 _"We'll probably have to walk you to and from your house now Quil," Embry interjects lightly._

 _Jacob and him laugh at that._

 _"I'm not scared of Sam Uley and his posse," I try to say in protest._

 _But I'm lying._

 _Secretly I'm glad I have one of my own to protect me._

 _Just in case._

 _3 on 3 isn't bad odds._

 **Author's Note: 1/11/2019 Thanks for reading!**


	12. Chapter 12

When _I get back to the house from hanging out with Jacob and Quil after school, I realize something is off._

 _As I walk up the small steps, I see that both the door and screen door are shut._

 _This is highly unusual because Grandpa Quil always let's himself inside with his key and is always waiting for me._

 _My heart sinks._

 _Thousands of possible reasons as to why Grandpa Quil wouldn't be here go through my mind._

 _I have to remember where we keep the spare key._

 _It's in a pot beside the cracked wood of the porch._

 _When I open the door I throw my bag on the floor and run to the kitchen._

 _I grab the house phone and dial my mother's cell phone number._

 _I saw her earlier today like always. She's supposed to take her CNA exam. But I have to call her to let her know that things are seriously wrong._

 _She picks up the phone on the second ring._

 _"Quil?" She says but I cut her off._

 _"Grandpa's not here!" I shout,"Mom! What if he's in the hospital or something?! What if something happened to him?! I have to go over to his place and check!"_

 _"Calm down, Quil," Mom says._

 _But it takes me awhile. I'm trying to think of what I will do if I walk to Grandpa's house and break down his door to find him hurt or unresponsive._

 _Because that's the only reason why he wouldn't be waiting for me at the house when I got home from school._

 _I decide that after I hang up with Mom I'll call Jake and Embry to meet me at Grandpa Quil's. That way we can get him to the hospital if he's passed out. Also so I won't lose my freaking mind._

 _"He's not going to be there tonight," Mom says through my hysteria. Which cuts all of my planning short._

 _In fact her words catch me totally off gaurd._

 _"Why? What happened to Grandpa Quil? Is he ok?" I say in a rush._

 _"He's fine, Quil," Mom reassures me,"He just had a Tribal Council meeting to attend"_

 _I deflate._

 _"Oh," I say quietly._

 _I mean...Grandpa is one of the Tribal Elders, but usually he lets them know that he has to be at home with me at a certain time so they will schedule meetings when he can make it._

 _Or if he has something that requires he has to come in on short notice, he usually just takes me with him._

 _On those times both me and Jacob will sit around outside of the Tribal Building hall while the adults talk because Jacob's dad Billy is a elder, too._

 _"He said it was an emergency," Mom explains, once again breaking up my reverie._

 _She goes quiet._

 _But then she adds:_

 _"Besides, Quil. You're old enough now to where you should be able to stay at the house by yourself"_

 _She says the words so gently and hesitantly. Yet why do they shake me to my core?_

 _ **By myself**._

 _I repeat the words in my head._

 _But even when I do that..._

 _They still don't make sense._

 **Author's Note: 1/12/2019 Thanks for reading!**


	13. Chapter 13

I'm _home alone for the first time in my life. But instead of stay inside I head back out the door. I don't even bother to lock up. Instead I start running again. I'm probably going to be able to do a mile without breaking a sweat by now._

 _I just keep jogging though. I only stop when I find the familiar path that leads to Jacob's shed._

 _He's just getting out and closing the door when he sees me._

 _"What's going on?" He asks me._

 _I catch my breath as I walk up to him._

 _I shake my head._

 _"Nothing," I say,"It's just Grandpa's at a tribal meeting. So, I headed back over here"_

 _Jacob shakes his head._

 _"Yeah, Sue and Harry Clearwater came and got Dad awhile ago," He tells me._

 _"I figured," I say as he goes back to shutting the shed door,"My mom's not coming back until late. She's taking that exam today, remember?"_

 _Jacob nods his head._

 _He pulls on the shed's handle to make sure it's shut tight. It's creaky and worn. But it's sturdy. Wild animals will get in if he doesn't make sure it's closed properly._

 _When Jake turns back to me, he sizes me up._

 _"What? You scared to be home by yourself or something?" He asks._

 _I shrug my shoulders._

 _"I just hate being alone," I admit._

 _Jacob's eyebrows twist inwards. He turns his head and begins walking towards his house. I follow him and match his stride. He doesn't say anything, but I swear I hear him mutter:_

 _"Yeah, me too"_

 **Author's Note: 1/13/2019 Thank you for reading!**


	14. Chapter 14

_Jacob's room is tiny. It's so small that it doesn't really fit both me and him. But I sit on the floor beside his bed. He turns on his radio and we just sort of listen to a CD or two. Talking about nothing._

 _When it's dark outside we hear a truck. We both get up and go to the door to see Harry and Sue Clearwater helping Billy Black into his wheelchair._

 _"I've got it," Jake says to Harry as he greets them and his dad._

 _I wave at him and Sue and they smile back at me and Jacob._

 _I rush over to help Jake get Billy in his chair._

 _Billy looks at me._

 _"What are you doing here, Quil?" He asks,"Your Mom know you're out this late? Old Quil just went back to your place"_

 _My ears perk up at hearing the mention of my Grandpa's name._

 _"I was just visiting Jake," I tell Uncle Billy,"I'll head home"_

 _He chuckles._

 _"Don't let me drive you out," He says,"Stay as long as you want. As long as it's ok with Joy. I'll give Old Quil a ring, too"_

 _"No," I say hurriedly before he can make any plans to call my mom or grandpa,"I should be getting back"_

 _"We'll give you a ride," Sue Clearwater says to me,"It's too late for you to be walking out here by yourself"_

 _She shares a look with her husband, Harry, who nods his head._

 _"Thanks," I tell them._

 _"See ya later, Jake," I say,"Bye Billy"_

 _They both wave at me as I jump in the middle seat of the truck with Harry and Sue._

 _Harry starts the engine and we ride away._

 _Sue places her hand on mine and gives me a motherly smile as her husband drives._

 _"You feel warm, Quil," She says quietly._

 _Harry diverts his eyes from the road to take a glance at me._

 _"Yeah, I've just been exercising a lot lately," I tell her._

 _She smiles and nods her head._

 _"That's good," She says._

 _She looks at Harry but then looks at me again._

 _"You and Jake should come over more," She says,"You know Seth would love to see you boys"_

 _She's talking about her son, Seth Clearwater. He's about two or three years younger than me. I see him at school sometimes. He's a nice kid. But I'm not going to tell Sue Clearwater that the only reason I'd go over to her place is to see her older daughter, Leah. Now **she's** the one that's hot and the only reason I'd want to be around any of Grandpa Quil's Tribal council members like Harry and Sue._

 _It doesn't take long to get to my place._

 _Sue gets out to let me hop down._

 _"Thanks for the ride!" I tell her and Harry as I say goodbye._

 _Grandpa Quil must have heard the truck pull up, because he's standing on the porch by the screen door._

 _He waves at Sue and Harry as they drive off._

 _I race up the steps and bound towards Grandpa._

 _I don't think I've ever been happier to see him in my life._

 _I take him by surprise and hug his waist like I'm five years old again._

 _He chuckles and pats my back._

 _He smells like old leather._

 _It's makes me nostalgic._

 _"Sorry I wasn't here when you got back from school," He says gently._

 _I let go of him and rub the back of my neck in embarrassment._

 _"S'okay," I say,"I hung out at Jake's for awhile"_

 _He smiles._

 _"That's good," He says,"You two boys will need each other"_

 _I don't know what he means by that. But sometimes Grandpa always says weird stuff that I don't really get, so I just let it roll over._

 _"Did you eat?" He asks me._

 _I shake my head no._

 _"I figured as much," He says,"Come on inside, I'll come up with something. Your mother's going to be late again"_

 _I'm sad that Mom won't make it to dinner the second night in a row, but I'm just glad I have Grandpa._

 _As I walk past him into the house, he reaches out and touches my forehead._

 _"Your hot," He whispers quietly._

 _It's the same thing Sue said when she touched my hand in the truck._

 _Are adults just able to tell when you're about to get sick? Maybe that's why they keep commenting on my temperature._

 _"But not burning," Grandpa continues to whisper._

 _I realize he's talking to himself._

 _He smiles at me._

 _"It'll be time soon," He says with a nod of his head._

 _"Grandpa," I complain,"You're acting weird again"_

 _He chuckles._

 _"We old ones have to act weird," He says to me as we both go inside,"It's the only way you young ones will finally understand"_

 _But I still don't know what he means._

 **Author's Note: 1/14/2019 Thanks for reading!**


	15. Chapter 15

_I wake up in the morning to the sound of music playing outside of my room._

 _That's weird._

 _Normally it is only me who plays music._

 _I've never heard my mom play music before._

 _I open my door and squint my eyes._

 _It's really early in the morning._

 _Not even time for me to get up to go to school yet._

 _I walk a little down the hall to my mom's room where I see her door open._

 _She's sitting on her bed and sure enough there's a song blaring. It's really sad._

 _I see her holding a picture of Dad._

 _Great._

 _"Mom," I say._

 _She looks over at the door then gives me a wide smile. There's no tears in her eyes. Instead she looks incredibly happy._

 _"Hey, baby," She says,"Did I wake you?"_

 _I nod my head._

 _"Yeah," I tell her._

 _She laughs._

 _"Come here," She orders._

 _I walk into her room and sit down at her bed._

 _I try not to stare at the picture of Dad that's she's clutching to her chest._

 _"You don't have to go to school today," Mom exclaims._

 _I raise my eyebrows up._

 _"Really?" I ask._

 _Then the sleepiness erases from my brain and I realize that there's only one reason why Mom would say that._

 _"You passed!" I cry._

 _I hug her stomach and she chuckles._

 _"Yep," Mom tells me as she rubs my head._

 _"We're going to be alright, baby," She says happily,"Your mom is officially a nurse"_

 _I pull back and look at her._

 _"We've always been alright, Mom," I say._

 _It's the truth._

 _As long as I have her, I know that I'll be OK._

 **Author's Note: 1/15/2019 Thank you for reading!**


	16. Chapter 16

_Mom and I take a drive up to Port Angeles for the day. The whole way there she sings that sad song I heard playing in her room. The one that woke me up._

 _But the more she sings it...the more I realize that the lyrics aren't sad at all._

 _ **Driving by the park tonight  
I was stopping at the light  
And it reminded me of all those days  
Posted at the coffee shop  
We would sit and talk for hours  
Never thought in a million years  
Things would change  
Tied to my heart  
Like a kite to a string  
I'd follow you  
Where the wind would blow  
Baby, I've tried  
But I can't unlove you  
You know you've got your hooks in my soul  
Feels like I'm dying  
Slowly all because you  
And your love will never let me go**_

 __

 _She has a raspy voice. It's pretty. Also, something I never knew about her before._

 _She seems like a whole different person._

 _When we get to the city she takes me shopping for new clothes. We laugh and talk about school. My friends. How Jake and Embry are doing. I even tell her about Paul._

 _A edited version of course. The last thing I need is for her going up to Paul Lahote's dad or aunts to confront them._

 _"If he messes with you again," She tells me though,"Don't worry. I'll take care of it"_

 _Which I know means she'll probably beat up Paul herself. Sam Uley and his gang and all._

 _We grab lunch at this fancy place that has dishes on the menu I've never heard of living on the rez. Like mushroom ravioli._

 _Mom orders for me. Then, she tells me something she's never told me before._

 _"Your father and I came here once," She says quietly._

 _She looks around._

 _I can tell by the expression on her face that this whole afternoon was like reliving memories for her._

 _I throw my arm around her shoulder._

 _She smiles at me._

 _"He'd be so proud of you," She tells me._

 _I'm not entirely sure about that, seeing as though I don't really remember him that much._

 _But if it makes Mom happy, then I'll take it._


	17. Chapter17

The next day when I go to school is a little strange. Namely because Embry isn't there.

"Where's he?" I ask Jake as I walk up to him.

He shakes his head.

"I don't know," He says, "I waited for him today, but I didn't see him."

I shrug my shoulders.

"Maybe we should go check on him," I say.

Jake nods his head.

We decide to ditch school and start walking to where Embry lives with his mom on the rez.

But as we walk we see something strange.

Sam Uley's group. But instead of the normal three members...there's a fourth.

And he looks a lot like Embry.

Jacob and I stop dead in our tracks when we see Embry standing at Paul Lahote's side.

It sort of becomes a staredown.

Sam Uley looks at us and none of us say a word.

Jacob and I's eyes go to Embry, but he won't meet ours.

Paul smirks at me. Which makes my blood run cold.

Is this his plan?

To beat me up with Embry?

Did Embry magically over night join Sam Uley's gang and now he's going to beat me up with Paul?

I see Jacob clinch his fist beside me.

"What the hell is going on," He whispers.

My heart is almost beating too fast to hear him.

But before the showdown can reach the next level...

Well, Sam Uley snaps his neck towards the woods to the others.

Paul glares at me just as Jared and Embry follow Sam as he heads toward the woods.

"Paul," Sam snaps.

That seems to grab his attention and he follows.

Jacob and I watch in disbelief as Embry just goes off with them. His hair cut surprisingly short.

"What was that?" I ask shakily as soon as Sam and his newly added gang of Embry are gone.

I'm finally able to breath.

I can't believe that yesterday I thought I knew who Embry was, but today I was so afraid of him that I couldn't even say his name.

As if he was really Paul's friend instead of mine.

"I don't know," Jacob says, his eyes still glaring to where Embry disappeared in the woods with Sam.

He's just as miffed as me.

But I don't know if he's as scared.

Silently we both know...whatever the hell happened...

We just lost a friend.


End file.
